Tibetan Demonstrators Hinder Olympic Torch Relays

Dallas, Texas (WiredPRNews) — A global, non-violent campaign by the suppressed Tibetan people has been launched using the 2008 Olympics in Beijing as a catalyst to finally collect much-needed concessions from the Chinese government, according to CTA.ca, a Canadian news station. “For the first time in decades, Tibetans feel their struggle has a sense of direction — and momentum,” the report explained.

In an effort to gain global attention to the long-standing source of contention between Tibet and the Chinese government, “Tibetan activists are using the Olympics to both draw the world’s attention to their cause, and to embarrass the Chinese. The plan is to irritate, disrupt or otherwise shame the Chinese with a global non-violent campaign.” Many of the Olympic Torch Relays in key cities such as London and Paris have been disrupted, with the torch being extinguished and moved by vehicle, due to heated and often disruptive demonstrations from the Tibetan movement. A protester in the London disruption went so far as to extinguish the Olympic flame with a fire extinguisher. 30 protesters were arrested during that particular demonstration.

“This time there’s a renewed energy in the people, they feel it’s leading somewhere,” Youdon Aukatsang, of the Tibetan government-in exile in India, said. The Chinese embassy is already gearing up in preparation for the demonstration when the torch passes through New Delhi next week, a location with a sizable amount of exiled Tibetans. A hard-hitting campaign has been slated to cover the city and the Chinese government has executed the use of heavy police presence and barbed wire.